The prestigious Sustainable Swansea Awards 2008 huge success!

The Sustainable Swansea Awards showcases what many local organisations and individuals are doing to make a difference. This year, twenty-one projects were short-listed in seven different categories and the winners were announced at a prestigious ceremony in the Brangwyn Hall on 22nd July. The event was presided over by the Evening Post’s editor, Spencer Feeney, and there was a special address by BBC presenter Jason Mohammad who explained his understanding of sustainability with reference to his experiences when reporting at the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002.

The seven award categories were large and small businesses, large and small community projects, schools, public agencies and individual champions. A judging panel of fourteen experts in the fields of environment, education, development and community regeneration deliberated over 45 applications and chose three finalists for each category to attend the awards ceremony.

“The standard for this year’s awards was incredibly high and the task faced by the judges was not an easy one to say the least. There was much excitement amongst the applicants and others involved in the scheme but the final winners were kept secret until the awards evening when they were revealed ‘Oscar-style’ by each category sponsor.” explained one of the coordinators, Philip McDonnell.

As well as a winner being announced for each category, one project also received the Environment Agency Overall Winner Award. This was given to Down to Earth, which also came first in the Co-operative Membership Community Project Award (large projects). The project is a social enterprise based in Owensfield, Gower and provides groundbreaking sustainability education programmes for young people and training courses for adults in traditional building techniques, bushcraft and woodland management. The judges were particularly impressed with the organisation’s tremendous commitment to sustainability principles and the high standard of achievement in a relatively short time.

Congratulations to the Blaenymaes Drop-in Centre which won the SCVS Community Project Award (small projects) at the Sustainable Swansea Awards 2008. The Drop-in Centre is a community-led facility which comprises a fruit and veg co-op, an affordable clothing shop, community training facilities and a garden. The judges were hugely impressed by the achievements of the group of enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers, most of who attended to the awards ceremony to receive their award.  

Highly commended in the small community projects category were Grovesend Local Produce Market and the Rhossili Village Hall, while in the large community project category, won by Down to Earth (see front cover), both Interfaith Swansea and Swansea Community Farm were highly commended for their excellent work.  

There were two business awards presented with the ARENA Network Small Business Award going to Growing Greetings, which produces innovative seed paper products, and the Business Centre Swansea Large Business Award won by AB Glass in recognition of its recycling and energy management. Commendations were also made to Welsh Boxes, WML Engineering, TOAST and Delve Online Media.  

The three schools short-listed for an award were Cadle Primary, Waun Wen Primary and Whitestone Primary with Cadle Primary taking this year’s SEEF Schools Award.

In the public agency category, Swansea Metropolitan University and both the Procurement Unit and the Corporate Building Services of the City and County of Swansea council were recognised for their work in developing policies and practices to promote sustainability. The Alun Griffiths Contractors Public Agency Award was awarded to the council’s Corporate Building Services.  

The success of projects and organisations is often down to the hard work and dedication of certain individuals and this is recognised through the Sustainable Swansea Champions Award sponsored this year by the Welsh Assembly Government. The finalists for this award had contributed in very different settings. Catherine McMillan, a student at Swansea University won the award for her active promotion of recycling, fair trade and conservation activities and for being an enthusiastic champion for the environment with students and staff. John Fry, a long-serving and very committed volunteer with the More Green Project, and Alan Brayley, Managing Director of AB Glass, were both highly commended for the contribution they have made to sustainability in Swansea.  

The Sustainable Swansea Awards scheme 2008 was a partnership between Swansea Environmental Forum and the City and County of Swansea’s Sustainable Development Unit and was sponsored by Hammerson and Urban Splash in association with the South Wales Evening Post. Each of the awards was also sponsored and several organisations made significant contributions in kind.   “One of the wonderful things about this year’s Awards was not only the many great entries but also that over a dozen organisations have been willing to sponsor and support the scheme. I think this shows just how important these issues are and the increasing profile that Awards is able to attract.” added Philip McDonnell.  

Full List of Awards and Finalists

SCVS Community Project Award (small projects)

WINNER: New Drop-in Centre

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Rhossili Village Hall and Bunkhouse

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Grovesend Local Producers Market

The Co-operative Membership Community Project Award (large projects)

WINNER: Down to Earth

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Swansea Community Farm

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Interfaith Swansea

SEEF Schools Award

WINNER: Cadle Primary School

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Whitestone Primary School

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Waun Wen Primary School

Alun Griffiths Contractors Public Agency Award

WINNER: City and County of Swansea Corporate Building Services

HIGHLY COMMENDED: City and County of Swansea Procurement Unit

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Swansea Metropolitan University

ARENA Network Small Business Award

WINNER: Growing Greetings

HIGHLY COMMENDED: WML Engineering

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Delve Media

Business Centre Swansea Large Business Award

WINNER: AB Glass

HIGHLY COMMENDED: TOAST

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Welsh Boxes

Champion Award sponsored by Welsh Assembly Government

WINNER: Catherine McMillan

HIGHLY COMMENDED: John Fry

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Alan Brayley

Environment Agency Wales Overall Winner Award

WINNER: Down to Earth